Which Cable Makes the Biggest Impact?

Sherod, By skimping, what do you mean? Not cost I hope.

I once used Pass Labs X-600 amps to power my 1 ohm speakers. A friend of mine had much easier to power speakers. When he started getting into digital amplification, he began experimenting with power cords. He found they made a big difference on his sound.

I held an audio party, and he showed up with these new power cords. To his amazement the cords made no difference. The reason was my system was not as revealing as his.

That was a long time ago. Now I am powering my Scintillas to astounding success using ever more fluoride glass quality power gear, I have found my friend was right.

Like Tvad says, your system has to reach a point of realism before wire's real strengths and weaknesses come into play.

There is not a commercial speaker cable that suits my needs. That's all right, I make my own. For ICs, there is no doubt, the simpler the better. One thing I can say for sure, nothing has made more impact than speaker cable substitutions.

I know that the power cables have to be shielded on my system. What I haven't understood, is why some of the expensive ones are better. I want to know, so I can make my own.

In my case, there is no getting around the most important piece in my system is the speaker. Very fortunately the maker of my power duo owns the same speaker. I am in good hands. Being that very few amps survive an encounter with 1 ohm, my needs are unique.

IMO The source is always number one in a successful system hierarchy. Next you want a very agile and seamless speaker. If you get the power needs adequately satisfied, the wires can be written into the plan as called for.

Meaning, if I were to be using some nasty AB amp, I would look into getting MIT cables to cure what ales such a sour beast. In my system, I just need the ICs and SCs to get out of the way as physically possible.

In your instance, Zippyy, I think your system would benefit from a devalued speaker cable, meaning costs less money. Your Mangepans are capable of articulating minuteness and musicality. Just for kicks try the Anti-Cable. It is so frightfully cheap, there is no reason not to. I don't use it any more, but that is another story.

I am a non-oversampling zealot, Get a used AN CD player. If you like the freedom, later you can reach for the stars.

Zippy, the signal is far more lively unconstrained. Borrow one if you can, and see if it suits your liking.

D_schroeder, please read any of the long list of testimonials at the Anti-Cable site. Some cables replaced are legendary. One guy who took my suggestion to try the Anti-Cable ended up with rewiring his speakers with magnet wire.

I'm in touch with other folks over the world who are whipping caps and cables around. The kind of folks who listen for things like a dog barking outside the studio. They too were very impressed with the Anti-Cable. They had something else that bettered it, a very short naked ribbon instead of the wire.

As Speltz notes at his site, dielectrics do effect the sound. When you get into that realm of electron microscope detail hunting, you find cable insulation, and mystery boxes flood the signal with varying amounts of audible trash.

I can demonstrate this at my place. Recently someone brought over Jena cables and Cardas Golden reference.

OK, I don't disagree with any of that. A lot of folks think the more they pay,
the better the product. Barnum had something to say about that.